Already on shaky footing, Research In Motion is being dealt another blow. After 14 years of company loyalty, the company's London-based head of global sales is moving on, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Patrick Spence was with the company since 1998 but had only been in his current position as SVP and managing director of global sales and regional marketing for the last 10 months, according to The Next Web.

This shakeup comes at a bad time for RIM. It is struggling to bring back lost market share and sales for its once popular BlackBerry devices, but it's not having much luck in an industry ruled by Apple and Android. Fourth-quarter reports show a company loss of $125 million and a 25 percent drop in revenue.

I can confirm that Patrick Spence, Head of Global Sales for Research In Motion, has resigned following 14 years of service. Patrick will be taking on a leadership position in a different industry. The sales function will report directly into Kristian Tear, our newly appointed COO when he starts this summer. In the interim, the sales function will report to [CEO] Thorsten Heins.

Two weeks ago, RIM brought on board a couple of new key executive players in preparation for its upcoming BlackBerry 10 launch. One is Tear (mentioned above) who was formerly an executive vice president at Sony Mobile Communications. The other is Frank Boulben, who joined the team as chief marketing officer and is the former executive vice president of strategy, marketing, and sales for mobile broadband provider LightSquared.

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Dara Kerr is a staff writer for CNET focused on the sharing economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado where she developed an affinity for collecting fool's gold and spirit animals.
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